How do I install Thrifle?

Copy the http config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Thrifle need an API key?

No required environment variable is listed on this record.

When was Thrifle last checked?

Last checked 2026-10-16. US return policies, price-match rules, discounts, deals and Amazon price verdicts. Read-only.

Thrifle MCP server

US return policies, price-match rules, discounts, deals, credit-card terms and Amazon buy-or-wait verdicts — as read-only tools for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and any MCP client.

https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp

No auth. No signup. 24 tools. Every answer links to the thrifle.com page it comes from.

What you can ask

Tool	Example
`get_return_policy`	What is Costco's return policy on a laptop?
`compare_return_policies`	Is it easier to return to Target or Walmart?
`search_return_policies`	Which furniture stores offer free returns?
`get_price_match_policy`	Does Best Buy price match Amazon?
`who_will_price_match`	Who will match this Amazon price on a TV?
`get_merchant_discounts` · `search_discounts`	Does Home Depot have a military discount?
`get_cancellation_guide`	How do I cancel Planet Fitness?
`get_birthday_freebie` · `search_birthday_freebies`	What does Starbucks give you on your birthday?
`search_deals` · `get_deal` · `get_deal_of_the_day` · `get_store_deals`	Is there a deal on AirPods Pro right now?
`predict_amazon_price`	Should I buy this Amazon product now or wait?
`search_credit_cards` · `get_credit_card` · `get_store_credit_cards`	Does the Lowe's card use deferred interest?
`get_money_monitor` · `get_price_pulse`	What is the average credit-card APR right now?
`check_product_recalls`	Has this product been recalled?
`about_thrifle`	What is Thrifle and what does it cover?

The data behind these tools: a return-policy database covering 2,250 US retailers with an A+–D− grade computed from the policy's own terms, price-match and price-adjustment policies, military/student discount programmes, birthday offers, cancellation guides, a curated deal feed, a credit-card database built from issuer pricing pages, and price history for hundreds of thousands of Amazon products. All of it is editor-verified and every record carries a last_verified date.

Connect it

Claude.ai / Claude Desktop (every plan; Free allows one custom connector) Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste the URL → leave authentication empty.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http thrifle https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp

ChatGPT — Settings → Apps & Connectors → Create (developer mode) → paste the URL, no authentication.

Cursor — click the badge above, or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "thrifle": { "url": "https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp" } } }

VS Code — click the badge above, or code --add-mcp '{"name":"thrifle","type":"http","url":"https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp"}'.

Perplexity (+ Custom connector → Remote), Grok (grok.com/connectors → Custom), Mistral Le Chat (Connectors → Custom MCP Connector), Gemini CLI (httpUrl under mcpServers), Gemini Enterprise (Manage team → Connected apps → Add MCP Server) all accept the same URL.

Claude Code plugin — this repo is also a Claude Code plugin (.claude-plugin/plugin.json, .mcp.json, and a thrifle-shopping skill that teaches the model which tool answers which question).

Try it from a terminal

curl -s https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp | jq .tools

curl -s -X POST https://api.thrifle.com/api/mcp \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' -H 'accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_return_policy","arguments":{"merchant":"Costco"}}}'

Run it yourself

git clone https://github.com/ejazmu/thrifle-mcp && cd thrifle-mcp
npm install
npm start          # http://127.0.0.1:8787/mcp, reading Thrifle's public API
npm test           # 17 protocol + shaping fixtures, no network needed

This is the same code that serves api.thrifle.com/api/mcp. THRIFLE_API_BASE points it at a different API base; MCP_RATE_PER_MIN / MCP_RATE_PER_DAY set the per-IP limits; MCP_API_KEYS (comma-separated) lists keys that bypass them via Authorization: Bearer.

How it is built

Stateless Streamable HTTP. One McpServer + transport per request, JSON responses, no sessions — nothing to resume, nothing shared between callers, nothing for a CDN to buffer. GET on the endpoint returns a human-readable discovery document.
Tools call Thrifle's public REST API, never a database. That keeps the MCP answer identical to the website's answer: affiliate-link handling, expired-deal rules and serve-time grading all apply automatically. src/api-client.js is a 60-line loopback fetch.
Shapers, not raw payloads. src/shape.js turns each API response into the facts plus the canonical thrifle.com url and a cite block, and drops internal fields. Pure functions, all covered by fixtures.
Read-only by construction. Every tool declares readOnlyHint: true; the catalogue in src/tools.js has no write path.
Price verdicts never trigger a live fetch — they read the tracked-price database only.

Fair use and licensing

Free for assistants answering a person's question: 60 calls a minute and 1,500 a day per address. Bulk or commercial use is licensed — see thrifle.com/data-licensing; a licence comes with a key that lifts the limits. Deal buy_url values are thrifle.com redirects and may be affiliate links.

Links

Docs: https://thrifle.com/mcp · Return-policy database: https://thrifle.com/return-policy · Price Predict: https://thrifle.com/price-predict · Money: https://thrifle.com/money · Contact: [email protected]